Apjati rejects decree on new minimum capital
Apjati rejects decree on new minimum capital
JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Labor Export Companies
(Apjati) has rejected a 1999 ministerial decree requiring labor
export companies to have Rp 1 billion in minimum capital.
"None of the 425 labor export firms grouped in the association
will comply with the decree because it will be ineffective in
providing protection for workers," the Apjati chairman, Abdulla
Umar, told The Jakarta Post by phone on Saturday.
Abdulla was responding to a manpower ministry statement on
Friday announcing that the decree would take effect on May 20.
The decree was issued by former manpower minister Fachmi Idris
in August 1999, to tighten administrative requirements for
companies wishing to acquire labor export licenses.
The previous ruling, issued in 1996, required labor exporters
to have assets worth Rp 375 million and a bank deposit of Rp 75
million in the name of the manpower minister.
The deposits were designed to finance troubled workers
overseas.
The new inflated deposit of Rp 1 billion is designed to filter
and limit labor export companies to ones which are the most
credible.
Abdulla criticized the government for failing to detect the
key problem in labor export, saying both Minister of Manpower
Bomer Pasaribu and Director General of Labor Placement Din
Syamsudin knew little about the labor export business.
"Bomer is unprofessional despite his track record in labor
affairs. And Din should go back to the Hidayatullah Islamic
Teaching Institute because he actually knows nothing about the
labor business," he said.
He questioned the fact that if the new deposit minimum was
intended to limit the number of labor export companies, then why
did the ministry issue some 250 licenses to new labor export
companies in the past six months.
"The two should turn down requests for new licenses if they
are committed to enforcing the new decree," he said.
Abdulla said companies should be gauged on how well they train
their workers before sending them abroad rather than the amount
of cash they can store in the bank.
"Huge assets are not a guarantee that workers will be well
trained and given better protection overseas. Many big companies
have also sent workers without standard training," he said.
He said it would more applicable if the government tightened
its supervision of labor exports and monitored the quality of
workers sent and their protection overseas.
"Companies found guilty of violating the standard training
procedures and legal and insurance protection must be given harsh
sanctions," he said.(rms)